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A Judo that Incorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano's Ideas and Their Theoretical Development

Shishida Fumiaki article about Kano's interest on Kendo.

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Abstract:
Kano stated that in the future judo should combine with kendo to become one while he touched upon the necessity of studying kendo and the relationships between judo and kendo, and he also often mentioned that his vision of ideal judo was present in the randori practices during the early years of the Kodokan. These remarkable statements would not have been special for Kano but will be unexpected for present judokas who practice a competitive judo as a sport. Why they have a problem to understand it is that Kano thought judo over as practical martial art as well as physical education and a sport event. Kano's ideal judo had not completed during his lifetime but that theme was succeeded by Professor Tomiki. Tomiki defined the kendo principle as the "technical theory of chop and thrust while avoiding touching", and clearly advanced Kano's idea. Tomiki improved the explanation of atemi-waza through his analysis of the Koshiki-no-kata. Tomiki analyzed each form of Koshiki-no-kata through the study of the relationship between "toughing" and atemi-waza. Kano encouraged judokas to practice "Seiryoku-zenyo-kokumin-taiiku", which would be influenced by karate in Okinawa. Tomiki systematized Kano's idea through emphasizing that judo practitioners should practice techniques of chop and thrust based on the principle of the throwing technique, because Tomiki thought that there was a structural difference between karate judo and karate.

Re: A Judo that Incorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano's Ideas and Their Theoretical Develop

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David Soroko wrote:

I think the in the olden days (pre WWII) a Kendoka was allowed to continue the match without the shinai, emty handed.

Yes, pre-war kendo allowed for all sorts of things that are no longer considered "proper" kendo, though foot sweeps are still permissible in some police tournaments. This is in part because the shinai kyogi faction won out in the end after the war after it merged with the ZNKR in 1954, and written laments of teachers in the 50's and 60's who stated that kendo lost its way.

People tend to focus on the grappling aspects of pre-war kendo such as choking out aite with a do, or ripping off the men, but seem unaware that were whole sets of waza which were more or less discarded.

Getting back to the original topic, you will find a number of pre-war teachers who state that kendo and judo were two sides to the same coin.

Re: A Judo that Incorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano's Ideas and Their Theoretical Develop

This is very interesting to me. We did lot's of bokken sparring this summer. We wrestled and used bokken to hit each other, it was very fun and very revealing. Lot's of classical Jujutsu/Aikido techniques would pop up, it was a joy to see!

Re: A Judo that Incorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano's Ideas and Their Theoretical Develop

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Chris Hein wrote:

This is very interesting to me. We did lot's of bokken sparring this summer. We wrestled and used bokken to hit each other, it was very fun and very revealing. Lot's of classical Jujutsu/Aikido techniques would pop up, it was a joy to see!

More experimentation needs to be done in this area!

I've engaged in this sort of thing with people who have trained in police dojos. It is a ton of fun and adds an entirely different element to practice, some of which is lacking in kendo.

Haga style kendo, of which you can find a bunch of videos on youtube shows some of what is like.

Many modern kendoka gasp in horror when they see videos like that as it isn't idealized clean technique, but seem to fail to grasp that it is mostly when you remove the ability to perform "rough" techniques, you wind up with refined, unchaotic matches. Keeping those elements in play make it difficult to have "refined" matches unless you are at a really high level.

Its like watching point karate vs MMA.

On the otherhand, the restrictive ruleset does allow for easier practice and development of understanding seme and developing kizeme.

Many modern kendoka gasp in horror when they see videos like that as it isn't idealized clean technique, but seem to fail to grasp that it is mostly when you remove the ability to perform "rough" techniques, you wind up with refined, unchaotic matches. Keeping those elements in play make it difficult to have "refined" matches unless you are at a really high level.

Its like watching point karate vs MMA.

On the otherhand, the restrictive ruleset does allow for easier practice and development of understanding seme and developing kizeme.

Very likely that when Kano was thinking Kendo, this is the kind of Kendo he was thinking about.

I like the guy in the background doing tanren, and the guy drinking something.. as well as the old guy stairs on top of the stairs on the right laughing.. itīs a VERY crowded piece of footage for sure..
:-D

Re: A Judo that Incorporates Kendo: Jigoro Kano's Ideas and Their Theoretical Develop

Thanks Demetrio, you are very good at finding links to great sources. I thought this quote on page 227 was very interesting:

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According to Tomiki's own words to this author, he learned Yagyu Shinkage-ryu kenjutsu from Kosaburo Gejo with Morihei Ueshiba in his youth. This includes the techniques and concepts of
"Muto-dori", or the methods of defeating an armed opponent while unarmed.

we can make our minds so like still water, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life
w b yeats